Bought my first Gun

[Witis]

You have an odd way of taking an answer and formulating a question for it. You asked "Do you mean..." My answer was No, because what you then stated was not even close to what I meant. I was answering the question you asked, not the one you meant to ask.

I don't think there was any ambiguity, I clearly only asked the question I meant to ask, which is obvious from the interaction:

Witis: I find the arrow part hard to believe, isn't it merely about making an easy kill and getting food that can't fight back on the table as quickly as possible???

Shaggy Hiker: No. Bow hunters are kind of like fly fishermen. In fact, all the bow hunters I know are also fly fisherman. For them, it doesn't seem to be so much a question of putting meat on the table, but how it is done. There's a greater level of skill needed for bow hunting, since the range is FAR less, so it appeals to certain types of people.

Witis: Do you mean that it is acceptable to kill a deer as long as there is more skill involved e.g bow and arrow, blowpipes, or spear?

Shaggy Hiker: No. There are just people out there who try to make it harder on themselves. Bow hunting is one level, but traditional bow hunting (no compound bows) is a subset within the bow hunting crowd. It's just people trying to do things a bit different.

Witis: No? Did you just change your mind? Are you now indicating that it is not acceptable to kill a deer under any circumstances even if they are killed by weapons that require a high degree of skill such as the traditional bow you just mentioned, a blowpipe or spear? What about a foot race to determine which animal has superior endurance; would it be ok to kill a deer if it collapses from exhaustion after being chased by one or more men?

I wasn't putting some kind of value judgement on whether or not it is acceptable to kill a deer in any way, I was saying that there are people who only hunt deer with bows, and they do that to make it more challenging. That's not a question of whether or not it is acceptable, it's just how they are.

Then I have to reiterate my question: Do you believe that it is acceptable to kill a deer as long as there is more skill involved e.g bow and arrow, blowpipes, or spear?

If primary school gets you up to 12, then I have no doubt that there are places where you can hunt at that age, though you probably can only hunt when accompanied by an adult. I haven't paid attention to the minimum age, and don't feel like looking it up.

What sort of prey are they allowed to hunt at that age?

Your mention of the footrace is kind of interesting, as there was a guy who wrote a book about attempting that with antelope. I believe the title is "Running After Antelope". He was a marathon runner who thought that humans may have hunted by simply outlasting animals, as you suggest. The idea is that we are well designed for endurance running, while lots of animals will overheat and shut down if they run long enough. If I remember correctly, he was unable to run down an antelope, even with the help of his brother. The antelope didn't have to keep running, it would sprint for a distance then stop. The two of them were unable to keep it running continually, so it always had a chance to recover between runs. Different species of deer use different evasion strategies, so running may work for some of them, but I doubt it. They are all so much faster than people that they can all use the same strategy that the antelope used to keep from tiring. Dogs can run down deer because they have the speed to keep the deer running, but we just aren't fast enough.

From what I have read it is possible depending on the animal being chased and still occurs in certain parts of the world. What about in the case of deer, even from a hypothetical perspective, would it be ok if a deer was killed if it lacked the endurance in a foot race?

EDIT: As to whether or not I would order it if it was on the menu: Have you not been reading, or not been paying attention. I thought I had stated three times that I didn't much like venison, but I can only find two of the statements, so I must have edited one out. Oddly, you actually quoted one of the statements. So, if I have stated repeatedly that I don't find venison appealing, why would I ever order it?

Ok then, what about elk, or moose rather than venison?